Railway-frog



(No Model.)

W. J. MORDEN.

RAILWAY PROG.

No. 332,734. Patented Dec. 22, 1885.

UNrTn STATES aTnNT j Trrcn.,

VILLIAM J. MORDEN, CF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

'RAILWAY-FROG.

.,IPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 332,734, datedDecember 22, 1835.

Application filed July 30, 185. S

T0 all whom, it may concern:

Beit known that I, WILLIAM J. MORDEN, a -citizen of the United States,residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Railway-Frogs, of whichthe following is a specification, to wit:

This invent-ion relates to railway-frogs; and it consists in certainpeculiarities of the coustruction and arrangement of the same,substantially as will be hereinafter more fully set forth and claimed.

In order to enable others skilled in the art to which my inventionappertains to make and use the same, I will now prcceed to describe itsconstruction and operation, referring to the accompanying drawings, inwhich- Figure l is a plan view of a frog constructed as I design it.Figs. 2 and 3 are perspective views of parts thereof, and Figs. 4 and 5are cross-sections upon the lines x x and y y, respectively.

A represents a frog-point, cast, swaged, forged, or otherwise formed inone piece, with a base, a, projecting upon both sides, as shown in Figs.I and 3. This base is herein shown as formed in one continuous pieceupon each side, with notches in its edges at proper intervals to receivethe spikes, which confine it firmly to the cross-ties of the road-bed.As the object of this base is to form a solid bearing for the point, ameans of firmly securing it in position, and a support for thewingrails, it is obvious that its real value is only upon the ties, andit may be made cheaper and lighter by being cut away between, asindicated by the dotted lines in Fig. 3. The wing-rails B B are bent inproper shape, and at one end secured to the rails of the main track andsiding in the usual manner by lishplates and bolts b b, or in any otherway found most desirable. These wings are secured iirmly together at ornear the throat of the frog by plates c c', shaped to conform to theinner and outer sides of the rails, as in Fig. 4, and bolted throughtheir shanks in the manner usual in similar cases. The wings B B are notsecured to the ties, but lie loosely upon the base a, one upon each sideof the solid point, and at their rear ends are connected by a cross-bar,d, passing beneath or through the point, to prevent the wings fromjumping from their seat, as will be at once understood.

The operation is as follows: One of the wings lies normally in closecontact with the point, as represented in Fig. l, and the other is byits connection held away from the point a sufficient distance to allowthe passage of the wheelflanges. Should a car approach upon the othertrack in either direction, the iianges of the wheels strike the wing andthrow both of them over, thus always allowing the wing over which thewheels are to pass to lie close to the point and give a solid bearingfor the wheels, and prevent the pounding upon the thin end of the point,which so soon destroys it. The wings swing freely from their jointedends, and their length, together with the short distance moved, preventsany injury to the joint by this motion. The wings are firmly supportedupon the base a and move freely to and from the point, as occasionrequires, and the base, being formed solid with the point, makes astrong connection free from liability of accident, and very simple andinexpensive in construction.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a railway-frog, the solid point A, having projecting base a c uponeach side, formed in one continuous piece with the point, and havingnotches a u, the said base a a forming a support for the movablewing-rails B B and of sufficient width to allow said wings to movefreely, substantially as shown and described, and for the purpose setforth.

2. In a railway-frog, a frog-point formed in one solid piece with anintegral base projecting upon each side, in combination with a pair ot'wing-rails secured at one end to the track-rails, and having theiropposite ends connected together and resting upon the pointbase uponeach side of the point, to and from which they are freely moved by thepassing wheels, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

3. In a railway-frog, a solid frog-point having a projecting base orsupport formed therewith upon each side, in combination with thewing-rails secured at their forward ends to the trackrails andlyingloosely upon thebase upon each side ofthe point, and two bars connectingthem, one at or near the throat and one at their rear ends beneath orthrough the heel of the point, .whereby the wings are readily moved toand from the point,to secure a double bearing for the wheels,substantially as shown and described.

y 4. The point A, formed in one piece with the projecting base a, uponeach side, having notches at proper points for spiking to the ties, incombination with thewings B B, resting loosely upon the point-base onVeach side 15 of the point and connected at the throat of the frog bybars c c,shaped to fit the rails, and at the rear ends by a bar, d,passing under or through the point, to prevent the wings from jumping,substantially as and for the purpose 2o set forth.

In testimony whereof I afx my signature in presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM J. MORDEN. Witnessesz' W. C. MCARTHUR, F. STRATTON.

